Bill

n. [Norm. Fr. bille, a label, or note of the value of a thing, L. Lat. billia, a modification of the Lat. bulla, any thing rounded, L. Lat., seal, stamp, letter, edict, roll, It. bulla, bolla, bollo, Pr. bulle, bolle, a round piece of metal marked with a seal, Fr. bulle, the pope’s bull, and bille, log, a ball made of bone, billiard-ball. Cf. BULL and BILLET.]

1Sense 1. (Law.) (a.) A declaration in writing, expressing some wrong the complainant has suffered from the defendant, or a fault committed by some person against a law. (b.) In England, an obligation or security given for money under the hand, and sometimes the seal, of the debtor, without a condition or forfeiture for non-payment.

In the United States, it is usually called a note, a note of hand, or a promissory note.

(c.) A form or draft of a law, presented to a legislature, but not yet enacted, or before it is enacted; a proposed or projected law.

In some cases statutes are called bills; but usually they are qualified by some description; as, a bill of attainder.

2Sense 2. A paper written or printed, and posted up in some public place, advertising the proposed sale of goods or particular things; an advertisement posted.

She put up the bill in her parlor window. Dickens.

3Sense 3. An account of goods sold or delivered, services rendered, or work done, with the price or value annexed to each article; as, a grocer’s or tailor’s bill.

4Sense 4. Any paper, containing a statement of particulars; as, a bill of charges or expenditures; a physician’s bill of prescriptions; a bill of fare or provisions, &c.

Bill of adventure. See ADVENTURE. — Bill of costs, a statement of the items which form the total amount of the costs of a party to a suit or action. — Bill of credit, within the constitution of the United States, a paper issued by a state, on the mere faith and credit of the state, and designed to circulate as money. Among merchants it is a letter sent by an agent or other person to a merchant, desiring him to give credit to the bearer for goods or money. No state shall “emit bills of credit.” U. S. Constitution. Peters. Wharton. Bouvier. — Bill of divorce, in the Jewish law, a writing given by the husband to the wife, by which the marriage relation was dissolved. Jer. iii. 8. — Bill of entry, a written account of goods entered at the custom-house, whether imported or intended for exportation. — Bill of exceptions. See EXCEPTIONS. — Bill of exchange (Com.), a written order or request from one person to another, desiring the latter to pay to some person designated a certain sum of money therein named. It generally is, and, to be negotiable, must be, made payable to order or to bearer. So also the order generally expresses a specified time of payment, and that it is drawn for value. The person who draws the bill is called the drawer, the person on whom it is drawn is, before acceptance, called the drawee, — after acceptance, the acceptor; the person to whom the money is directed to be paid is called the payee. The person making the order may himself be the payee. The bill itself is frequently called a draft. See EXCHANGE. Chitty. — Bill of health, a certificate from the proper authorities as to the state of health of a ship’s company at the time of her leaving port. — Bill of lading, a written account of goods shipped by any person on board of a vessel, signed by the master of the vessel, who acknowledges the receipt of the goods, and promises to deliver them safe at the place directed, dangers of the sea excepted. It is usual for the master to sign two, three, or four copies of the bill; one of which he keeps in possession, one is kept by the shipper, and one is sent to the consignee of the goods. — Bill of mortality, an account of the number of deaths in a place in a given time. — Bill of pains and penalties, a special act of the legislature which inflicts a punishment less than death upon persons supposed to be guilty of treason or felony, without any conviction in the ordinary course of judicial proceedings. Bouvier. Wharton. — Bill of parcels, an account given by the seller to the buyer, containing the particulars of all the sorts of the goods bought, and their prices. — Bill of particulars (Law), a detailed statement of the items of a plaintiff’s demand in an action, or of the defendant’s set-off. — Bill of rights, a summary of rights and privileges claimed by a people. Such was the declaration presented by the Lords and Commons of England to the prince and princess of Orange in 1688. In America, a bill or declaration of rights is prefixed to most of the constitutions of the several states. — Bill of sale, a formal instrument for the conveyance or transfer of goods and chattels. — Bill of sight, a form of entry at the custom-house, by which goods, respecting which the importer is not possessed of full information, may be provisionally landed for examination. — Bill of store, a license granted at the custom-house to merchants, to carry such stores and provisions as are necessary for a voyage, custom free. Wharton. — Bill of sufferance (Eng. Law), a license granted to a merchant to suffer him to trade from one English port to another without paying customs.

[From bill, a beak.] To join bills, as doves; to caress in fondness. “As pigeons bill.” Shak.